Ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks to appeal terror verdict

FORMER Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks will appeal against his conviction for supporting terrorism next month, his lawyer says.

Hicks' Australian lawyer Stephen Kenny said documents were being prepared for the appeal, which he anticipated would be launched in the US next month.

"We expect it to take up to one year to reach resolution," Mr Kenny said.

Hicks, 37, spent more than five years in Guantanamo Bay before being transferred to South Australia's Yatala Labour Prison in 2007. He was released in December that year.

The move comes amid renewed pressure to close the controversial military jail, with President Barack Obama and former Guantanamo Bay chief prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis - the man who charged Hicks - calling for its closure.

The South Australian admitted providing material support to terrorists as part of a plea deal which facilitated his transfer to Australia.

His bid to overturn the conviction comes after a US court last year quashed a similar charge of material support for terrorism relating to Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver.

Hamdan had his conviction thrown out after the US appeals court ruled in October 2012 that the charge was unlawfully applied retrospectively.

Mr Kenny said Hicks continued to struggle with the impact of his detention.

"I think he still struggles with the impact of solitary confinement but he's doing the best he can," he said.

President Barack Obama today renewed his bid to close Guantanamo Bay, saying that it was damaging US interests.